World Briefing | Europe: Spain: Crackdown On Soviet Mafia

By Renwick McLean (NYT)

Published: June 21, 2005

The Interior Ministry said the police had disrupted a major money-laundering network run by mafia groups from the former Soviet Union, mostly Georgia. They arrested 28 people, including 22 said to be senior mafia leaders, in what the ministry said was the most significant police operation against organized crime in Spain's history. The arrests took place over the weekend along the eastern coast and led to the freezing of more than 800 bank accounts and the seizure of more than 40 homes and offices and dozens of luxury cars. Renwick McLean (NYT)